


Warm

by orphan_account



Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff, M/M, Massage, Steve Rogers comes in clutch with his profound knowledge of anything useful ever, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 22:21:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9144820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Bucky's metal arm gives him trouble some days.Steve knows Bucky's body language far too well.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Boy oh boy have I fallen headlong into the Avengers fandom. I wrote this in between doing summer research program apps and finished it at 3 am so I figured why not post it and kick the new year off with an unbeta'd Stucky fic I cranked out. Why the hell not. 
> 
> Also, if you have a suggestion for a less stupid title please leave it in the comments because it's three in the morning and I cannot be bothered to think of something cooler lmao.
> 
> Anyway, enjoy and leave feedback if u so wish. Happy 2017, folks.

Steve narrowed his eyes. Something was wrong.

On the surface, he could detect no injury. Bucky strolled into the apartment, planted a kiss on Steve’s lips, and joined him where he reclined on the couch. Steve gave him the cursory once-over. No lacerations bled onto Bucky’s soft shirt, no bruises bloomed across his pale skin. But after all Steve’s years of years of loving and breathing and living with Bucky, he knew when something was off.

“You alright, Bucky?” Steve enquired cautiously, looking into those stormy, clear eyes. A single nod. Bucky pecked another kiss onto Steve’s nose as Steve ran his hands down Bucky’s back. Nothing seemed out of place, but his muscles were so tight—he was so tense.

Steve pulled away. He could see Bucky forcibly relaxing different muscle groups in turn. His stomach, his chest, and his legs softened and tightened again as Bucky moved his focus away. The couch shook as Bucky bounced his leg, and Steve frowned. That was the dead giveaway.

“You’re in pain,” Steve murmured. “Something’s hurting you. Show me what’s wrong.”

“I’ve had a lot worse, Stevie,” Bucky said, but the tightness in his voice betrayed him. “You needn’t worry about me.”

“Oh, but I do, Buck,” Steve countered. He pulled off Bucky’s shirt, then winced in sympathy as Bucky’s posture twisted in pain from the sudden movement. Starting from his Bucky’s hips, Steve quickly probed the muscles on each side, rubbing across Bucky’s warm, smooth skin to find the source of the ache. He felt Bucky’s breath come quickly, felt his muscles flex and then become gradually tighter as he worked his way upwards, over his chest and-

Bucky cried out sharply as Steve dug a particularly aggressive thumb into his left shoulder. Steve flinched away as Bucky clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, clearly waiting for the wave of pain to pass.

“Oh my god, Bucky,” Steve whispered, laying a gentle hand on Bucky’s hip, afraid to hurt him any more. “I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean to hurt you… I-”

“Hush,” Bucky croaked, with an attempt at a smile that looked more like a grimace. “My arm’s giving me a bit of trouble, is all. It’s the weather.” He tried waving it to show Steve he’d be fine, but found himself gritting his teeth again as his shoulder failed him and the cold, hard metal of his arm came crashing down onto his torso.

Steve didn’t say anything. He just went on looking at Bucky with those blue eyes full of concern that made Bucky feel sheepish and protective both at once. For half a minute, they stared at each other, unmoving, and a little knot of guilt grew in Bucky’s chest for not being forthright with Steve the first place. Suddenly, Steve stood up.

“You lay here, Buck,” he instructed before walking away into the hall. His tone wasn’t angry, at least, and that allayed some of Bucky’s worries.

He lowered himself to the side until he was laying prostrate on the sofa, head resting on his right arm, and listened as Steve opened cabinets and drawers in the bathroom. He heard Steve shuffle around in their bedroom. 

Soon enough, Steve emerged with the ghost of a smile on his lips, a pillow in his arms, and a few tubes of _something_ in his hands. Bucky furrowed his eyebrows.

“Steve, I understand the sentiment, but I’m not sure if I _can-_ ” Bucky started, before being cut off by Steve nudging the pillow under Bucky’s chest.

“When’s the last time you had a massage?” Steve asked him, not even hiding the cheeky smile now. Bucky groaned, and Steve laughed. “I can’t tell if that from excitement, disappointment, or dread.”

“A little bit of all, I think,” said Bucky as Steve popped the cap off one of the tubes. Bucky eyed it suspiciously.

“Warming lotion,” Steve offered by way of explanation. He squeezed a liberal amount into his hand and rubbed it around, then rolled his eyes when he found Bucky still staring dubiously. “You’ll see.”

And as soon as Steve began rubbing circles in the round center of Bucky’s back, he _did_ see. Boy, did he see.

Heat penetrated Bucky’s aching muscles where Steve’s hands moved over them. Bucky’s eyes slid shut—Steve wasn’t even massaging very hard, just rubbing the lotion into every square inch of Bucky’s shoulders and down his back, but each place his hands visited stayed warm until it felt like Steve was touching everywhere at once.

Steve’s lips crooked up in a smile of satisfaction as he felt a sigh of pleasure slide out of Bucky’s lungs. The aroma of eucalyptus filled the air as he dug in a little more, finding the knots in Bucky’s lower back and working his way up to where the muscles were tighter.

“You ought to give that arm a rest once in a while,” he said to Bucky with a particularly aggressive squeeze.

Bucky responded with a grunt.

“Really,” insisted Steve, pressing outwards from his spine and massaging each section of his trapezius up and down. “It’s heavy, and it’ll throw your spine all out of whack if you aren’t careful.”

“Got it,” slurred Bucky with a somewhat longer grunt. Somehow, Steve knew exactly where to apply pressure to release the tension built up in Bucky’s torso. He was right, though—the uneven distribution of weight across Bucky’s shoulders did throw things out of whack. Even if Hydra’s doctors had gotten the balance of his limbs exactly perfect, Bucky _moved_ the metal arm differently. It cooperated with mechanized grace, but the larger movements themselves all came from the stump still connected to his shoulder, and on bad days, the weight of the arm made it hurt to even stand. Bucky felt a small twinge of irritation that Steve had not offered to do this with him earlier. He could probably do this all day.

Steve’s hands left Bucky’s back for a moment, but before Bucky could complain, he heard another plastic cap pop open. A fragrant oil drizzled onto Bucky’s back. Then Steve’s hands returned, spreading the oil across the rounded surface, gliding slick fingertips over each curve and dimple, and Bucky shivered.

Idly, Bucky watched the shadow of the coffee table grow longer by millimeters as Steve kneaded out the knots in his shoulders. He felt boneless and warm, and loose all over. By the time the shadow of the coffee table ran into the couch, Bucky didn’t feel any pain at all; he just basked in the feeling of Steve’s strong hands running up and down his skin and aligning all that was meant to be aligned in his back.

“Feeling a _little_ better?” Steve asked, his hands still on Bucky’s shoulders.

“Mm, yeah, just a tiny little bit,” Bucky said, just to be an asshole. "Where'd you even get all that stuff?"

"Sam gave me a shit ton of different lotions once for my birthday. I'm talking baskets and boxes full. Said it would come in handy someday, and I guess it did, though I'm still not sure if it was meant to be a gag or something."

Bucky shrugged, satisfied. “Turned out pretty useful," he agreed. "Too useful. I feel like all that warming lotion stuff dissolved all my bones. Help me up, punk.”

Steve obliged, settling Bucky into a sitting position with a full body lift that was completely unnecessary.

“And what do I get in return for that, hmm?” Steve smirked, leaning over Bucky and staring at him with those saccharine blue eyes that were too damn observant for their own good.

“A kiss or two,” Bucky breathed, bridging the four inches between their faces to press two chaste kisses to Steve’s lips. “Or three.” His hand found a place Steve’s neck as he kissed him again, longer and deep enough for him to gently tug on Steve’s lower lip.

Steve smiled against Bucky’s mouth before breaking away just long enough to help Bucky tug his shirt back on.

“Wouldn’t help to wait until you got all cold and achy again, would it?” he said as Bucky pulled him onto the couch and fit their limbs together into a very close, very warm cuddle.

“I think I’ve got the perfect plan for making sure that doesn’t happen,” responded Bucky with a wide yawn, his nose brushing Steve’s collarbone. “I’ve got my very own military-issued heater.”

“How lucky it is for you that this heater has nowhere to be for the next twenty-four hours,” Steve said, his breath ruffling Bucky’s hair.

“Shut up, punk,” Bucky mumbled, his eyes already closed.

“Sleep tight, jerk.”

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr @kewelhumanbean


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